Synergies of Robotic Asteroid Redirection Technologies and Human - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Synergies of Robotic Asteroid Redirection Technologies and Human Space Exploration

John R. Brophy , Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Louis Friedman ,Executive Director Emeritus, The Planetary Society Nathan J. Strange, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Thomas A. Prince . Director, Keck Institute for Space Studies, Caltech Damon Landau, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Thomas Jones . Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Russell Schweickart , B612 Foundation Chris Lewicki , Planetary Resources, Inc. Martin Elvis , Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics David Manzella ,NASA Glenn Research Center, USA

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3 Year Study (2011-2014)

• Initial Study Results

– ARM uniquely enables human exploration of a celestial body beyond the Moon by 2025 – Spacecraft and Mission are feasible within current program – Requires and develops Solar Electric Propulsion

• Follow-on Study Results

– SEP provides significant advantages for humans to Mars – A series of increasingly deep-space missions is enabled with asteroid redirection technology – Asteroid resources can be exploited for human space flight – Strong synergy exists with commercial and planetary defense objectives

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The ARM Spacecraft

Capture a Small Asteroid Pick up a Boulder

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2) Separation & S/A Deploy 9) Orion rendezvous & crew operations

Initial Earth Orbit (spiral only) Moon’s Orbit

2a) Spiral out to Moon if Atlas V 551

Asteroid Orbit

3) Lunar Gravity Assist (if needed) 4) SEP low-thrust cruise to Asteroid 6) SEP redirect to Lunar orbit 1) Launch direct to LGA (SLS, or Falcon Heavy) or to Earth Orbit (Atlas V 551)

Earth

7) Lunar Gravity Assist 8) SEP transfer to safe DRO

Asteroid Redirect Mission Design

(NOTIONAL)

2) Separation & S/A Deploy 5) Asteroid Operations: rendezvous, characterize, deploy capture mechanism, capture, and despin (60 days)

Outline

• ARM Derivatives for

Mars Missions

– High Powered SEP Tugs – SEP Cargo Delivery – Intermediate Heliocentric Orbits for Stepping Stones

• Earth Resonant Orbits
• Earth-Mars Cyclers
• ARM and Planetary

Defense

– Early Warning – Deflection

• ARM and Resource

Utilization

– Radiation Shielding – Water – Building Materials

• Other

– Communication Satellites – Deep Space Science Missions – Orbital Debris Removal

• New Research Areas in

Physics and Materials

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High Power SEP Tugs

• SEP can roughly double the

mass delivered to lunar- crossing HEO from a single SLS launch. The specific SLS assumptions to recreate this figure are 241 km LEO, 140.8 t in LEO with 23.6 t inert upper stage, 462 s Isp.

• SEP spiral to 384000 km

circular orbit for Lunar intercept, 44% efficiency at 1500 s, 67% efficiency at 5000 s.

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SEP Cargo Delivery for Mars Missions

A 270-kW SEP vehicle can perform a 1.5-revolution transfer to Mars (preceded by a geocentric spiral and lunar-assisted escape) and combined with a high-thrust capture maneuver at Mars would deliver a 70 t of payload to a 1-sol orbit from a single SLS Block 2 launch.

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Heliocentric Stepping Stones

Redirecting small asteroids to Earth flybys could enable a wide variety of orbits where the asteroid could be “stored” including Earth-resonant orbits and Mars-crossing

• rbits.

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Radiation-Shielded Mars Cyclers in Three Easy Steps

STEP 1: In Lunar DRO

• Redirect an asteroid to lunar DRO (ARRM)
• Astronauts obtain samples and learn to how deal with the

asteroid material (ARCM)

• Subsequent missions deliver a deep-space habitat to the

lunar DRO where astronauts dismantle the asteroid and use it to radiation-shield their habitat

STEP 2: In Earth-Resonant Orbit

• Redirect a new asteroid to an Earth-resonant orbit
• Deliver a deep-space habitat with astronauts where they

spend 6-months dismantling the asteroid to create a radiation-shielded habitat using the techniques learned in lunar DRO

STEP 3: Transfer to a Cycler Orbit

• Transfer the radiation-shielded habitat to a Mars cycler
• rbit using Earth gravity assists
• Astronauts travel to/from Mars in a deep-space habitat

shielded against galactic cosmic rays 1st Radiation-shielded deep-space habitat created in lunar DRO from “sand-bagged” asteroid material 2nd Radiation-shielded deep-space habitat created in an Earth- resonant orbit from “sand-bagged” material from an new asteroid 2nd Radiation-shielded, deep-space transferred to a Mars cycle orbit with very little ∆V

ARM and Planetary Defense

• Early Warnings, Observations

– Discovery->Tracking->Orbit Determination->Prediction – Characterization: Mass, Size, Composition, Sturcutre – Observation campaigns have been enhanced

• Deflection

– Enhanced near-asteroid operations experience – Ion beam deflection may be considered – Possible demonstration of deflection technologies

• Planetary Defense now recognized in government program
• ARM Mission secondary payload options

– Observer spacecraft – Ion Beam Deflection Experiment

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ARM and Resource Utilization

• Science experiments for composition and

structure determination, drilling

• Mass for radiation shielding, >100 tons
• Water for propellant, oxygen, water

– Asteroid may be 20% water (100-200 tons)

• Building materials: iron, nickel, cobalt,

platinum-group

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Other Applications

• Solar Array Technology Development
• Magnetically shielded Hall thruster systems
• Commercial geostationary satellite industry

– Other GTO applications

• Deep space science missions

– Small body rendezvous – Jupiter missions and beyond

• Orbital debris removal
• New areas of physics and materials research

under study

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Summary

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Asteroid Redirect Mission ISRU Lunar Support

• Private
• International

Phobos, Deimos

Mars

Orbital Debris Removal Commercial Satellites

Backflip orbit plane

Sun

Earth Resonant Orbit Robotic Science Missions

Extract Materials for:

• Radiation Shielding
• Water
• Fuel
• Metals

Habitat development, e.g.:

• 6-month Earth-resonant (depicted)
• Sun-Earth Lagrange Points
• Mars cycler orbits

Cargo Delivery Planetary Defense Cargo delivery to support human missions to the Moon or Mars

SEP vehicles for precise orbit determination of potentially hazardous asteroids or their deflection High performance SEP-based science missions Improved competitiveness for U.S. comsats Removal of large pieces

• f orbital debris

Flexible Path to Mars

Commercial Asteroid Mining

Potential Post-ARM Applications

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NASA Vision for Future Human Exploration Enabled by Asteroid Redirect Technology

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Lunar Surface Missions Asteroid Exploitation Missions Deep Space Missions